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2. There’s a story in you

Abstract

Creating imaginary worlds is essential in all forms of speculative fiction, whether you are writing a novel or short story. The works of Le Guin and Tolkien showcase richly invented worlds, made-up languages and imaginative presentations that invite us to what Richard Mathews termed ‘infinite possibility’ in his book Fantasy: the Liberation of Imagination(2002). There is a large presence of language and sophistication in the created worlds inside the fictional realms of Le Guin’s Earthseabooks and Tolkien’s Lord of the Ringsseries. Both authors love languages, where Le Guin applies it as power in the Earthseabooks, and knowledge of the language of magic, the language of dragons, the language of nature, the language of creation … is power. To philologist Tolkien, the culture and linguistics of Middle-earth are part of his investment in world building that compounds the credibility of his fantasy works as literature classics.